All the new Apple stuff (October 2014)

During today’s event, Apple updated pretty much everything they didn’t get to in September. There’s a new iPad Air and iPad mini, a Retina iMac, and a surprise appearance of an updated Mac mini. Apple also announced the launch of Mac OS X Yosemite (which you can download right now) and iOS 8.1 (which launches Monday with support for Apple Pay); we covered those back in June when they were first announced.

What’s new about the new iPads?

For one thing, choosing between mini and Air just got a lot easier. The iPad Air 2 got a bunch of updates and is better than the original Air in every aspect. It’s thinner and lighter than its already-thin-and-light predecessor, and it has a better screen, faster chips, better cameras, Touch ID, and faster wireless (both Wi-Fi and LTE). Oh, and it now comes in gold.

The new iPad mini 3 only got the paint job and Touch ID sensor. Beyond that, it’s the same exact thing as the old iPad mini Retina (seriously, compare the specs side by side), which now sells for $100 less. That makes the mini 3 a pretty bad deal.

With this latest generation of iPads, Apple has made it clear that big tablets are the ones to get. This makes sense given their push for larger phone screens. If phones are larger, there’s less need for a small tablet.

The iPad Air 2 is thinner and slightly lighter, so it’s easier to use one-handed than previous full-sized iPads. Photo by Seamus Bellamy.

The most immediately obvious change to the iPad Air 2 is its size. A reduction of 1.4 millimeters of thickness and 32 grams of weight doesn’t sound like a lot. After trying them in person, though, the Air 2 is noticeably lighter and thinner in the hand, making it more comfortable to hold than the original. And now the Air is now only 0.2 pounds heavier than the iPad mini. If you like the Air’s larger screen but preferred the mini for its lighter weight and easier one-handed use, the new Air may be more appealing.

The iPad Air 2 (right) has an anti-reflective coating whereas the iPad mini 3 (left) does not. Photo by Dan Frakes.

The key to the new Air’s thinness is a redesigned screen with no air gaps between the layers. Apple claims that this also makes the display sharper. They’ve also added an anti-reflective coating to the glass to make it easier to read. Screen glare has been one of the big criticisms of the iPad for reading and outdoor use, so this is a welcome improvement. The image above shows the same ceiling light reflected off the screens of the iPad mini 3 (left) and iPad Air 2 (right). On the mini, the glare is very bright and completely obscures whatever is on the screen. On the Air, there’s still a glare, but it’s much more muted and you can still see the screen through it. It’s not a matte anti-glare treatment—which usually affects colors and brightness—but rather a more-subtle reduction of reflections.

The camera’s resolution is now 8 megapixels instead of 5 MP and adds burst mode and slo-mo video shooting. That’s similar to the camera on the iPhone 5s, though the pixels on the sensor are a bit smaller than those on the 5s, so low-light performance might not be as good. Still, it’s not bad for a tablet.

The insides have been upgraded too. Apple says the new A8X processor makes graphics up to 2.5 times better, and apps will run faster and more efficiently. The Air 2 has two-stream 802.11ac Wi-Fi, so you’ll get faster internet and file transfers if you use it with an ac-capable router like our pick. It also has the same M8 motion coprocessor as the iPhone 6—not that you should use your tablet for fitness tracking. Like the iPads that came before it, the Air 2 should have an impressive 10-hour battery life.

Pricing starts at $500 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model. There’s a 64GB model for $600 and 128GB for $700. As with the iPhone, Apple eliminated the 32GB model entirely.

LTE still costs $130 extra, but in a surprising move, the LTE Air 2 comes pre-installed with a SIM card that lets you switch freely between AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint without changing SIM cards (Verizon is conspicuously absent). That means you can pick whichever carrier works best for you and just buy data from them as needed. Apple didn’t make a big deal out of this, but it’s actually a pretty big win for customers since you can switch networks without needing to buy a new iPad.

The new iPad mini 3 has the same pricing structure but starts at $400 for the 16GB version. Pre-orders for both start on the 17th and they’ll ship starting late next week.

Should I get one?

If you bought an iPad a while back and find that it’s now gathering dust, buying a new one probably won’t change that. But if you’re using yours less because it’s getting slow and annoying, now’s a good time to upgrade. Touch ID alone will greatly improve your tablet experience. Games will have better graphics, apps will load faster, and of course, everything will be a tiny bit easier to travel with.

However, if you have a perfectly functional iPad that isn’t laggy, you should first consider your use patterns. The improved portability won’t really matter if you’re just watching TV in bed or reading the news on the couch. But if you use the iPad a lot for traveling, you’ll appreciate that the new ones are light enough to operate one-handed. It’s also easy to justify upgrading if you like taking photos with a tablet. The upgraded 8MP camera should be a huge improvement over those of past iPads. We have more advice on this in our full guide.

How about that Retina iMac?

The Retina iMac is as gorgeous as you’d expect from an iMac with a 5120×2880, 14.7-megapixel display. It has the same design as the normal 27-inch iMac, but possesses faster guts and a much more pixel-dense screen. Assuming this Retina display is as accurate out of the box as the MacBook Pro with Retina display was when it came out, this is going to be a real game changer for photographers, who will be able to see photos in near full resolution with near-accurate colors.

It starts at $2,500, which is surprisingly affordable given that Dell plans to sell a 5K monitor for the same price. However, we don’t yet know whether the GPU in the base configuration will be powerful enough to push all those pixels smoothly. Fully maxed out, it’ll set you back $4,400.

It’s available starting today, but the smart money’s on waiting for the reviews and benchmarks to see just how good that display is, and whether the hardware is enough to keep up with it. But if you must have it now, our computer section editor Nathan Edwards has some advice on which configuration to get: “Most people who just need a great computer will probably be fine with the base model GPU with 2 GB of VRAM. Video editors, 3D modelers, and anyone who deals with very high-resolution graphics—basically anyone who relies on a good GPU for work—should get the upgraded GPU with 4 GB of VRAM. Or a Mac Pro.”

Is the new Mac mini worth considering now?

Maybe. The new Mac mini has upgraded processors, storage, graphics, and Thunderbolt 2 ports, and its base model now starts at $500 instead of $600. By the time you’ve added a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, you’re approaching the cost of a MacBook Air or 21-inch iMac. But if you already have a monitor you like and a keyboard/mouse combo that works, it’s not an awful deal for a competent desktop computer. It’s the cheapest way to get a Mac, and the small size makes it a decent candidate for a media center PC or a very small desktop. You could build a desktop with much better specs for the same amount of money, if you have the time and know-how, but that would be much larger and wouldn’t be a Mac.

Michael Zhao is a senior editor at The Wirecutter based in Brooklyn, New York. His areas of coverage include AV gear, cameras and photo accessories, travel gear, and bags. You can find him on all social media platforms @mhzhao.

Dan Frakes is a senior editor for The Wirecutter. He previously spent over a decade as a senior editor at Macworld/IDG, and he’s been reviewing products and writing about technology, media, and audio for nearly two decades.

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